Andrea Brillantes breaks silence on Seth Fedelin breakup, dressing room rumors: 'I'm tired for taking all the blame for something I didn't do'
A day after Seth Fedelin defended her from bashers, Andrea Brillantes broke her silence and said her piece on circulating rumors about her past relationship with her on-screen partner.
The 19-year-old actress explained her side of the story on an Instagram live on April 11, wherein she thanked Fedelin for coming to her aid. She also revealed that their on-screen romance translated to real life—the two were in a relationship for two years and three months.
"We broke up last year, early October 'yun, it was a painful breakup pero it was a mutual decision. We both loved each other truly and deeply and learned so much from each other but we weren’t as growing as individuals na," Brillantes said, reading off a script she prepared beforehand.
"We ended on good terms... We promised each other na magpapatuloy kami sa work namin kasi we love each other as friends," she added.
Brillantes also addressed the issues that sparked in January about her cryptic TikTok post after a photo of Fedelin with Francine Diaz and her family surfaced online.
"I admit I made an honest mistake about showing my emotions online sa public... I had no contact with them when I saw the picture so I made a TikTok which made everything burst," she explained. "Pero sana man lang guys once, maisip niyo na tao lang din ako and it was my first heartbreak kaya di ko alam talaga pano i-handle."
She and Fedelin never made their relationship public, thus fans started to say she had no right to react emotionally toward the photo. "Masakit kasi naging kami for two years and three months... I tried to call so many times to have an explanation, makakuha ng sagot, meron namang sumagot pero it was too late."
The actress said she learned a lesson after posting the TikTok of her lip-syncing to Selena Gomez's Lose You to Love Me, but also stressed it's "never foolish to post your emotions online."
In January, malicious rumors started to spread about how Brillantes confronted Diaz in a dressing room during the ASAP Christmas special. Ogie Diaz had a vlog about the issue, wherein his sources told him that the young actress did it to protect her love team with Fedelin.
"'Di po ako nanugod sa dressing room, 'di po talaga," she said. "Aaminin ko I was mad, I was furious, I wanted to file a case sa mga taong nagpakalat noon. And in every lie that was thrown at me without any complete proof, I was mad and broken because everyone was accusing me for something I didn’t do."
Brillantes, however, said she decided to forgive and forget for her own peace.
On Twitter, Diaz's older sister Chantal spoke up about the confrontation, saying Brillantes has already apologized to the "Gold Squad" member privately.
Hello.
— F (@Talshiii) April 12, 2022
I just want to clear some things in behalf of Francine and some issues that has been circulating for quite some time na. This has been stressing me out as an Ate of Chin and I can or we can no longer stay silent kasi we tried hard to stay silent for peace kaso ang hirap +
"Masaya na ang puso ko ngayon at ipagdarasal ko na sana matutunan na natin lahat na maging masaya para sa iba," she concluded, urging people to focus on more important matters like the upcoming May national elections.
The live video reached over 156,000 views, with celebrities like Barbie Imperial and BJ Pascual expressing their support for the young actress.
On April 10, Brillantes got into a relationship with UP Fighting Maroons player Ricci Rivero, who asked her to be his girlfriend on the mic after winning the game against the FEU Tamaraws.